NewsOne Now Exclusive: Ambassador Andrew Young Reflects On The Life Of Julian Bond

Ambassador Andrew Young spoke with Roland Martin Tuesday on NewsOne Now about his good friend Julian Bond.

Young told Martin:

“Julian was a person who was impossible not to love — everybody loved Julian, ’cause he was very pleasant, he respected everybody, he had a very wry sense of humor. I never ever saw him angry and he just had a very calm philosophical spirit that was easy to get along with.”

Later in their conversation, Young explained that Bond was working to ensure the legacy of the Civil Rights movement by “helping people to understand what the situation really is” in America as it relates to race.

Young said:

“Nobody has an understanding of the present racial situation … because today’s life is so much more complicated in dealing with the economy. See we were redeeming the soul of America from triple evils of racism, war and cop property. Julian really was the first to stand up against the war in Vietnam and for that he got put out of the Georgia State Legislature — had to go to the Supreme Court to get back, but he continued.

“He never made much noise, he spoke when he was questioned, but he was what we used to call a “race man. He viewed everything from the lens of what is the impact of whatever this is on my people.”

Watch Roland Martin and Ambassador Andrew Young discuss the life and legacy of Civil Rights icon Julian Bond in the video clip above.